What Do You Think? Cydia App Store is Open

What can be done with your iPhone if you don’t take Apple’s word for truth

Who owns your iPhone? I know that it is a sudden question but really, who owns your iPhone? Some of you have bought out of the contract and paid full price for Apple’s Jesus phone, some of you probably received it as a gift and others have paid upfront for the phone and are now fishing away at the contract. So, who owns your iPhone?

Is it your device since you paid for it or are paying for it? Is it the property of AT&T, Orange, Softbank or Rogers? In a previous article, TMA discussed some of the problems of giving into Apple’s plan for our mobile lives and in particular what features we are missing by not digging into the jailbreak scene. Now however, the Jailbreak scene is going corporate.

Yes, according the a Wallstreet news article, Cydia will be opening the doors of its own App Store and likely charging developers a similar commission to Apple’s own cut from developers. What is significant is that many of the apps available on Cydia should be available in the App Store such as a camcorder app. Apple argue that security issues and the rising cost of supporting Jailbreaked iPhones has pushed them to seek legal sanctions against the Jailbreak scene, but it all boils down to money. Apple will likely kick and fuss at the new competition, but this Apple fan will in this instance root for the underdog.

Word on the street is that there will be a few App Stores from unauthorised vendors popping up to satisfy the needs of the growing iPhone population. In retrospect, Apple have hurt themselves by disallowing certain high-profile applications into the App Store while approving apps that do absolutely nothing.

When push comes to shove, I hope Apple get hammered in the courts for their anti-consumer practices. What do you think? It would be great to get your opinion on this topic whether in agreement with my arguments or not. Cheers!

Filed Under: News • Rumours

Jeremy

I definitely agree, I don’t know why Apple will let us change our lock screen background but not our Springboard wallpaper. With that being said, I understand why Winterboard a popular Cydia application, because the developers might not agree to let users to change their application icons. But if Apple were to contact them and asked them, maybe we could get a cool official customizing app out.
http://www.touchmyapps.com shigzeo

It would be nice to have an iPhone or iPod touch that would allow for change and customisation rather than ‘what everyone else gets’. I think Apple are playing too much of a power card toward their customers – and it ain’t quite nice at all. Compound that will all the rubbish apps they allow into the store. More on that one later!
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Carlos

I’ve been using Nokia devices running Symbian for several years now, but I decided to try the iPhone GS when it launched. Initially I loved the OS, simple to use but honestly it was so hard to get used to all the restrictions placed by Apple, so I jailbroke it using redsn0w, it gives it much more freedom, but I miss simple things like the more open bluetooth etc. The 3GS is still a great powerful device, the quality of games and apps is amazing, but honestly I think I will go back to Nokia next time if they make a decent spec phone like they used to, symbian might be ugly as hell compared to iPhone OS or Android, but its fast and stable and those guys in Europe and Asia can do amazing things on that OS.
http://www.touchmyapp.com shigzeo

Thanks for the comment Carlos. There are always a few things missing in any package. The iPhone does have more restrictions in some areas, but its overall software is much better. I’ll admit first to disagreeing with Asian countries making good OS for mobile phones. I’ve used many many as I have lived in Japan and Korea, the two countries with the most advanced phones. Their OS are impossible to use for the simplest of things. While they can do some great transactions, they need to learn from companies like Apple – their design is simply a floundering example of what not to do in order to be friendly to the average user.
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